Dartford honour "Syko" - a true gentleman

Dartford Football Club chiefs are to honour a former captain who died playing football, reports www.dartfordtimes.co.uk

The Southern League Division One East club want to inaugurate a Young Player of the Year trophy as a memorial to Paul Sykes who died aged 28 last April.

The former Darts captain had only transferred to Folkstone Invicta earlier in the season and everyone connected to the striker was shocked when he collapsed and died 30 minutes into a game versus Margate.

He left a widow Carly and son Thomas who was aged just nine months.

Darts co-chairman Bill Archer decided at a board meeting last week to honour the striker's nurturing effect on the youth players.

It followed a canvassing of Dartford FC chiefs and fans by the Kentish Times into an appropriate memorial ahead of the club's move to a brand new £7.5 million stadium at Princes Park.

The Dartford Times has agreed to team up with the club and launch the legacy when the new stadium opens this year.

Bill Archer said: "We thought we could have an award, perhaps a trophy named after Paul that is given each year to the most outstanding young player.

"He loved kids and always wanted to do his best for them, nurturing them through the ranks.

"Paul was always a great supporter of bringing younger kids through to play and it would be fitting to have a memorial that reflects that.

"He always played with a big heart, never gave anything less than his best and a Young Player of the Year trophy could be something that kids aspire to win."

The co-chairman said it could be opened up to the youth teams as well as the first team, to show the club's support and strength in young players.

Another idea touted by former manager Tommy Sampson was to have a suite at the new stadium complex named after him: "He was a quiet man so I think if they named a suite after him or something less prominent and more intimate, he would have liked that."

Work on the project in Princes Road is well underway and is due for completion in July ready for the 2006 to 2007 season.

The new sports complex that will house a 4000 capacity stadium, function hall, bars and a separate, all-weather floodlit pitch.

It marks the end of a 14 year exile for the club, who currently ground share with Gravesend and Northfleet FC.

Paul Sykes joined Invicta in November 2004 from Dartford. Originally an apprentice at Gillingham, Paul made his name at then Conference club Welling United.

He joined Margate during the 1995 to 1996 season, soon establishing himself as the club's leading goal scorer.

As a member of Chris Kinnear's side he won promotion from the Dr Martens League Southern Division and then won the Premier Division in 2000-01.

After recovering from some serious ankle and knee injuries he joined Dartford during the 2002-03 season and subsequently had a spell with Dover Athletic before returning to Tommy Sampson's Darts.